Noe’s Comics Nook: Stay

Review

Stay is a story about grief and the different ways we all process it – but you’d probably never guess that from the comic’s cover description or coloring. When we first meet Fabienne, she is with her partner Roland on a weeklong vacation (that’s planned out to the degree that each thing is paid for in advance), but quickly we lose Roland to a freak accident. I won’t spoil for you what happens because it is seriously the strangest, most nonchalantly illustrated death I’ve seen in a comic maybe ever. What follows is Fabienne’s attempt to continue with their vacation as planned solo, a decision that baffles family, acquaintances, and the reader, for a time.

As the story progresses, we meet a local man named Paco who has a hobby collecting stories about strange deaths, but is otherwise a truly kind soul. Perhaps even his hobby isn’t that bad when he gives this reason for it: “It reassures me to know that death is always present, no matter when or where.” Reading this, more than a year and millions of largely preventable deaths worldwide into the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself agreeing with Paco. If you can come to terms with the idea that death is always nearby, near all of us, it makes it a more manageable fact of life.

Stay may a harder read for those less familiar with European style, slice-of-life comics. There isn’t the frenetic pace common in American comics and sometimes there are spreads where little “happens” other than the normal everyday activities on a tourist beachfront. Those wordless spreads, beautifully colored by Chevillard, are important however; they offer breathing room for the heavy topic of grief of course, but they also offer a sense of scale. The world moves even when we feel stuck – but that’s okay.

Elements of Story

Plot: When Fabienne suddenly finds herself alone on a fully paid for, planned out vacation, she decides to stay despite her grief – what happens next is an exploration of how we learn to move on.

Characters: Fabienne, Roland, Paco

Major Settings: Southern France, The Beach, Outdoor Café, The Market, Paco’s Shop

Themes: Grief, Friendship, Kindness

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6 – Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.

Directions: In Stay we find ourselves in the South of France, initially with a couple on vacation where they will relax but also plan their future, but quickly it becomes an exploration of Fabienne’s grief at the sudden loss of Roland at the outset of their trip. In the course of the comic, where Fabienne decides to continue the vacation, we see various family and friends question her choice and how she chooses to process her grief. For this assignment, students are asked to do the same.

1. Briefly describe the plot of Stay, paying careful attention to note which characters discuss grief with Fabienne. (2 paragraphs)
2. How do these different characters experience grief? Describe what is said versus what is unsaid (illustrated) in the comic and how said/unsaid work together to make clear the character’s experience. (1 paragraph per character)
3. Stay is a translation of a comic originally published in French. What did you notice that was similar about the way characters experienced grief and what was different? Why do you think that might be? (2 paragraphs)

Is there a character whose expression of grief you identify more with? Why or why not? (2 paragraphs)